Abū Lubābah and the Pillar of Tawbah

So they were thinking about surrendering. They sent to Abū Lubābah, one of the Ṣaḥābah and one of their allies in the time of Jāhiliyyah, and they seek his counsel: what do you think, should we surrender or not? Abū Lubābah goes to them, and when they ask him the question… actually, when they meet him, they come out with their women and children, and they were sobbing. One can imagine Abū Lubābah coming in, with all of these women crying and the children crying. So it was an emotional scene. So when they asked Abū Lubābah, "What do you think Muḥammad will do if we surrender?" he pointed to his throat and made a gesture that means: he will slaughter you.

As soon as he did that, he realised that he had betrayed Allah and His Messenger. He shouldn't have said that. He shouldn't have disclosed any information that he had. So he rushed back and tied himself to a pillar in al-Masjid al-Nabawī and said, "I'm not going to untie myself until Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, accepts my repentance."

Abū Lubābah (may Allah be pleased with him) remains tied up for six days in the masjid. His wife would come up to him for every ṣalāh and untie him, and then, after the ṣalāh was over, she would tie him again. And this continued until one night the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was at the house of Umm Salamah, his wife, the room of Umm Salamah, and he smiled. So she asked him, "O Messenger of Allah, what is it?" He said, "Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has accepted the repentance of Abū Lubābah." So Umm Salamah said, "Shouldn't I go and deliver the good news to him?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Yes, if you want to." So she opens the door of her room, which was right across from the masjid, and she delivers the news to Abū Lubābah (may Allah be pleased with him). And the Ṣaḥābah rushed towards Abū Lubābah to untie him, but he said, "Do not do so, until the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) comes and does that himself."

So Abū Lubābah (may Allah be pleased with him) was affected by the emotional scene that he saw in front of his eyes: the sobbing of the women and children in front of his eyes. So when he was asked, "What do you think our fate will be?" his response was gesturing with his finger at his neck, which means that he will slaughter you. He goes back to al-Masjid al-Nabawī. He was terrified, and he said, "I have betrayed Allah and His Messenger." He realised that after the act. It was sort of a spontaneous move, and he only realised his mistake after it occurred. But he was fast to repent, and he was so serious about what he had done that he rushed back to al-Masjid al-Nabawī, where he tied himself to one of the pillars and said, "I'm not going to untie myself until Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, accepts my repentance," which Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, did after six days.

And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) received news of that, so he smiled, and he told Umm Salamah about it, so Umm Salamah was the one who conveyed the news to Abū Lubābah. The Ṣaḥābah rushed to untie him. Abū Lubābah said, "No, not until the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) comes and unties me himself." So when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went to pray Ṣalāt al-Fajr, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) untied Abū Lubābah (may Allah be pleased with him).

And, by the way, there is a pillar in al-Masjid al-Nabawī right now that is named the Pillar of Tawbah. This was the pillar to which Abū Lubābah tied himself. He stayed there for six days. He wouldn't be untied except by his wife, who would untie him before ṣalāh; he would pray, and then she would tie him to it again.